Definition: Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by subsistence agriculture, home preservation of food, and may also involve the small scale production of textiles, clothing, and craft work for household use or sale.
So I know there is a bunch of really good posts already discussed about food, base building/tiers, livestock, farming, and crafting. I want to touch on those subjects a little because they are all connected to homesteading but not go too into detail because I know a lot has already been discussed. I also kind of want to open a discussion about having a base and its part in the meta.
I know Nelson has made it clear that U2 will be more centered around survival, with this I think homesteading will have a prominent role in U2.
By homesteading in U2 I mean the act of making your base self sufficient with crops, animals, power, and water. In 3.0 most people will make a plot and line it with lettuce or tomato, and maybe have a couple of rain barrels outside. But for the most part running into a dinner or gas station in any town can resupply you on food and water until the next town. A lot of people also tend to just place metal lockers and rifle racks around to store loot. I think with new survival mechanics being discussed like decaying food and roaming zombies, the lockers in open fields and lettuce only fields will change.
The reason I bring up decaying food and roaming zombies is because these two additions would make players have to think in more of a survival mentality like building a shelter (base) and raising crops. Running into towns will be good to find supplies and extra food but will (just speculation) be a little difficult to solely survive off food wise. Having a farm at home and preserving foods and keeping them stocked will allow you to prosper. I really want to see smoked meats and canned jars lining my shelves in my apocalyptic base. Also maybe some stews or high level food that needs cooking ranges or big pots to create. Maybe those high level cooking can hold your hunger up longer or provide you with a stamina buff for a duration of time.
Some mods in 3.0 have really cool food and homesteading additions. Like the one that adds chickens, fermentation of various items for alcohol, beekeeping, and so many cooking recipes. I usually play on Vanilla normal mode servers and like building farms and large water barrel farms because I like the aspect of surviving, building a fort, and having it be self sufficient. But in 3.0 you can really go so far with the base game, I usually end up just going out and fighting people for content. I just recently got on a RP server with the mods described above and found myself looting and scavenging to bring back seeds and supplies to build up my homes farm and make it a little cabin with beehives, crops, chickens, and a hefty stock of alcohol and provisions. Before I realized it I had spent 3 hours building and collecting, usually by that time without other player interaction I get bored and get off.
I think I speak for most people excited for U2 survival and pve content on having a house with lots of room for upgrades to help them survive in the cruel world. Be it new ways to produce food or ways to power refrigeration and lighting.
Also I think a base will be more important in U2 with the discussion of crafting tables and roaming zombies, you will need a safe place for your crafting tables, farms, and loot with zombies walking the woods looking to munch on such things. Also if cold weather and snow affects your health you will need a cozy fire and warm soup. In a real apocalyptic situation I feel like survivors would start out by scavenging towns and cities for supplies and set up operation in an area to be able to start producing there own goods, especially with large groups.
I guess I wanna see what other people think about how U2 survival changes will affect the game play and meta of bases and how important a HQ is to survival against the environment, players, and zombies/bandits.
